Birthday Cupcakes
by civillove
Summary: Finn attempts to make cupcakes for Rachel's birthday-written in honor of Rachel Berry's birthday :


**Title**: Birthday Cupcakes  
><strong>Type<strong>: Drabble  
><strong>Summary<strong>: Finn attempts to make cupcakes for Rachel's birthday._  
><em>**Rating**: PG  
><strong>Authors Note<strong>: written in honor of Rachel Berry's birthday!

Finn looked over at the cupcake pan like it was about to grow three heads. This was why he always let his mom bake—everything needed to be measured and perfect and Finn couldn't tell the difference between the teaspoon and the tablespoon.

Couldn't he just, like, throw 'pinches' of sugar and stuff into the batter like they did on those fancy cook shows? The cupcakes always came out of the oven in perfect, fluffy, cups.

This had to be perfect.

Rachel always made perfect cupcakes.

Could the universe work with him for once so he could make her birthday special? He just needed one perfect cupcake, just _one_.

He poured the batter (was it supposed to be so clumpy?) into the little individual cups and looked at the oven. It had been preheating, like the directions told him, for ten minutes. He slid the tray into the oven and set the timer.

And waited.

He shifted on his feet, trying to clean up the huge mess he had created in his kitchen in such a short amount of time. Chocolate chips, chocolate cupcake batter, beaters, wrappers, napkins, spoons—shit was _everywhere_. This was also why he never baked anything. The kitchen looked like it had exploded into World War III every time he tried.

He washed most of the dishes and looked at the timer on the oven. He rubbed the back of his neck.

Rachel would be heading to his house soon and he should have started these earlier instead of trying to kill those zombies on his wii. He had wanted everything to be done and ready when she arrived. He still had to blow up the balloons and find the gift he had bought her a month ago (was it still under his bed…or had he put it in his boxer drawer…?).

His card had cupcake batter on it and he swore, trying to wipe some of it off. The stars he had drawn on the front now had brown smudges all over them…maybe he could pull that off as some black hole in the galaxy or something when he gave it to her.

He nearly jumped when the doorbell rang—his eyes shot to a clock. No. No. _No_. It couldn't be Rachel. He knew she liked to be pectoral?..._Punctual_; or some shit, but she'd never show up an hour before she was supposed to.

He glanced at the oven before moving through his kitchen to head to the front door. He opened it and raised his eyebrows.

Well. There was always room to prove him wrong, it seemed.

"Rachel." His voice squeaked. "What…are you doing here?" She frowned and he almost smacked himself up alongside his head. "I mean, you're early."

She smiled and adjusted her bag on her shoulder. He took the heavy backpack from her and she smiled, reaching up on her toes to kiss his cheek.

"I know, my dads have this whole dinner and movie thing planned for tonight. I wanted to spend more time with you." He smiled softly, taking her hand in his. "So I came an hour or so early…I hope that's alright."

"It's more than alright." He smiled.

She bit her lip and looked up at him. "Then…why won't you let me inside?"

_Smooth, Finn. _"Oh, sorry." He moved aside and let her pass him, closing the front door afterwards.

He set her bookbag down on the table near the front door and came up behind her as she slid her coat off. He smiled softly, helping her slide the coat down her arms, kissing the back of her head as she did so. He hung her coat up on the coat rack and took her hand, spinning her to face him.

She giggled as he pulled her close, swaying a little with her in his arms. "Feel any older?"

She shook her head and ran her hand over his chest. "No, I feel the same."

He kissed her forehead. "Good, I don't want you to be any different."

Rachel smiled and pulled back. "Becoming one year older doesn't change much about you." She scrunched her nose. "Is something burning?"

Finn's eyes widened. Holy Mary on a bagel. The _cupcakes_.

He rushed past Rachel, nearly knocking her over, and bolted into the kitchen; muttering about oven mitts. He pulled them on his hands and hurriedly took the pan of burnt cupcakes out of the oven, setting them on top. He blew on them (he had no idea why…like _that_ would stop them from singeing and smoking) and turned the oven off.

He sighed, swearing softly. Of _course_. Of course he had to mess this up too. He didn't want to turn around as he heard Rachel's feet gently pad against the tile as she came into the kitchen.

"Finn? Is everything—?" She came up beside him, looking down at the burned cupcakes.

"I wanted to surprise you."

She bit her lip. "Aw, Finn. You didn't have to…" She tilted her head as she looked at the cupcakes (you couldn't even really call them that; they looked like craters). "They don't look so bad."

He didn't want to get angry, it was her birthday for cheesus sake, but frustration boiled in his chest. "How can you say that? I try to do _one_ nice thing and it's ruined. I screw everything up. It's no wonder none of the colleges that I applied to didn't accept me." He threw the oven mitts onto the counter, knocking over the salt and pepper shakers.

He sighed, sitting down on one of the tall chairs at the island counter, gently pushing the bowl of white icing with his fingers.

She walked up to him, moving his legs apart so she could inch between them. He felt her fingers gently grasp his chin, forcing him to look at her.

"That's not true." She kissed his nose and guilt bloomed in his chest when he realized he was making this about him when it shouldn't have been because it was _her_ birthday and today should have been all about _her_.

"I'm sorry." He said softly. "It's your birthday and I'm making it all about me." He rested his forehead on hers.

She kissed his upper lip. "It's okay to be upset…I can tell you tried really hard with those cupcakes." He rolled his eyes and she ran a finger down his cheek. "But it's the thought that really counts." She kissed his cheek before pulling back.

"And for the record, we are still waiting on a few more colleges. Don't lose hope, okay? You are…perfect." She cupped his face, running a thumb over his cheekbone. He looked up into her eyes. "And one of those colleges is going to see what I see every day." She tapped his nose with her finger. "I promise."

Finn bit his lip and leaned forward to kiss her. She tasted like strawberry lip gloss. He cupped her face with both of his hands as he felt her arms go around his neck.

He shuddered when she pulled back, her breath gently ghosting over his lips. She smiled and kissed his nose before looking down at the table. She smiled when she saw his card and then reached for the bowl of icing.

"Well, at least the icing looks good."

He groaned softly. "That's because it's not homemade. I scooped it out of a container."

Rachel giggled, swiping a finger through the icing. She dabbed a bit on his nose and a large smile spread over her perfect, pink lips. She leaned forward and kissed it off his nose. She licked her lips and dipped another finger into the vanilla scented icing, sliding a bit over her lower lip before licking it off her finger.

Finn swallowed.

"I, uhm," _Think with your upstairs brain, Hudson_. "I can try and make the cupcakes again."

She kissed him softly and he nearly moaned at the taste of vanilla on her tongue. "Trust me," She said as she pulled back, picking up the bowl of icing. "All we'll need is the icing."

Finn smirked softly and dipped his finger into the icing, sliding a bit on her neck. He leaned forward and kissed her pulse point, swiping his tongue over the icing glob. He smiled as her fingernails dug into his shoulders.

She took his hand and dragged him up from his seat. "Where are we going?" He asked, dumbly.

"To your room." She told him, matter-of-factly. "You still owe me sixteen birthday kisses."


End file.
